Contents

Anatomy

Gorvil are tall creatures (averaging around 7'0"-7'5" tall) that have a green scale covered body, a long thick tail and the head of a fearsome snouted lizard. With glowing eyes, razor sharp claws and rows of deadly teeth, their fearsome natural weapons make them excellent hunters.

Gorvil are slow moving creatures, yet very strong. While their movement is somewhat ponderous, a single hit from their powerful claws is enough to badly wound their chosen prey.

Stats

Frequency: Rare

No. Appearing: 10-40

Armor Class: 5 (4)

Move: 3"//6"

Hit Dice: 2 + 1

% in lair: 30%

Treasure type: D

No. of attacks: 3

Damage/Attack: 1-4 (claw)/ 1-4 (claw)/ 1-8 (bite)

Special attacks: Mutilate* (1-12) -12 TP

Special defenses: Nil

Magic resistance: Standard

Intelligence: Low (average)

Alignments: Neutral

Size: M (about 7' tall)

Psionic ability: Nil

Attack/Defense modes: Nil

*Capable of causing major bleeding for 10 rounds if critical.

Culture

Gorvils despise the light and extinguish any light sources they see due to them being accustomed to the darkness and having sensitive eyes towards light. Because of this, the Underdark has remained their home for many ages.

Gorvils usually do not seek conflict with the humanoid races of the underdark, but will do so when food is scarce. They are usually content with feeding on wild animals and any types of edible plants they find in their catacombs. They are quite territorial and will defend their nests to the death if necessary.

Gorvils are a Matriarchal race, having the females stay at the nests while the males go out to hunt for food. The Queens are usually the ones instructing the females on how the nest should be built and what should be done to protect it. During mating season, the Queen will select the strongest male of the nest to reproduce with, this has often led Gorvil males to create competitions to prove who is the strongest male worthy to mate with the Queen.

If there is no Queen available, the nest will often choose the most fertile female to lead the nest, otherwise they will find a suitable female from another nest and make her the Queen. Should there be no males for the Queen or the females to mate with, the Queen will send out the females to bring back a suitable male, possibly from another nest to make him her personal sex slave until there is a decent number of males in her nest, then she will let him go free.

Gorvils do not tolerate weakness and will banish the weakest male of the nest. This Gorvil, if lucky, will eventually find a new nest and settle there to become strong enough so that he may one day go back to his nest and prove his worth.

Gorvils are broken down into three different groups:

Guards - These Gorvils make up the nest's personal attendants and the Queen's personal guards. They will defend the nest to the death and will kill any trespassers they see.

Hunters - These Gorvils make up the bulk of the nest. They will actively scour the caverns for any food they can find to bring back to the nest and to maintain their borders.

Workers - These Gorvils, though mostly female, are the caretakers of the nest and will hunt lesser prey if needed.

Gorvils are never at all interested in treasures or valuables, having need only for the tools or weapons they create or find themselves that might be of use to them, mostly swords, axes, shields or even armor. Gorvil nests sometimes have jewelry or coins loosely scattered around the place which are discarded as trash to them. At best, a Gorvil will keep an item due to it's appearance and as a "shiny thing". In rare cases, a Gorvil will discover the magical value of non-weapon items such as rings, necklaces or bracers if it's power is simple enough for them to comprehend.

Trivia

The Gorvil originated from the "Mazes and Monsters" novel and movie where the main character "Robbie" (Played by Tom Hanks) hallucinates and sees a Gorvil advance towards him when the DM Jay Jay (played by Chris Makepeace) calls out the monster's name.